Computer device with touch screen and method for operating the same

ABSTRACT

A method for operating a computer device incorporating a touch screen is provided. The method includes pre-defining a first pointing device command and a second pointing device command, which are not related to directional pointing control, in the computer device. In response to a first touch, the touch screen generates a first touch signal. The first pointing device invokes a command in response to the first touch signal. In response to a second touch different from the first touch, the touch screen generates a second touch signal. The second pointing device command is invokes in response to the second touch signal.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the right of priority based on Taiwan PatentApplication No. 99129414, entitled “Computer Device with Touch Screenand Method for Operating the Same”, filed on Aug. 31, 2010. The entirecontents of the aforementioned application are incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a computer device with touch screen anda method for operating the same.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

More and more computer devices are equipped with touch screens. Ingeneral, touch screens are classified into capacitive type, resistivetype, acoustic type, and optical type. For example, Acer™ Gateway ZX6810from Acer company and iPhone™ from Apple company adopt thecapacitive-type touch screens, and T91 Tablet from ASUS company,1420P-232G32n from Acer company, and N800 Internet Tablet from Nokiacompany adopt the resistive type touch screens.

In response to the usage of touch screen, iPhone™ provides a virtualkeyboard, wherein different texts such as capital letters and lower caseletters can be inputted according to the longer or shorter touchduration. Moreover, in the article titled “Pressure-based text entry formobile devices” by Stephen A. Brewster and Michael Hughes, Proceedingsof the 11th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction withMobile Devices and Services, Sep. 15-18, 2009, Bonn, Germany, it alsosuggested that virtual keyboard adopted in N800 Internet Table can inputcapital or lower case letters by different touch pressures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one embodiment, a computer device includes a touch screen,an operating system, and a processor. The touch screen is configured to,in response to a first touch, generate a first touch signal, and inresponse to a second touch, generate a second touch signal, wherein thefirst touch and the second touch are different at least in pressureapplied by the user. The operating system is configured to pre-define afirst command and a second command. The processor is configured to, inresponse to the first touch, invoke the first command, and in responseto the second touch signal, invoke the second command.

According to another embodiment, a method of initiating a command on acomputer device having a touch screen includes in response a first touchon the touch screen, invoking a first command. In response to a secondtouch on the touch screen, invoking a second command. The first commandand the second command are invoked by the application of unequalpressure on the touch screen.

According to an embodiment, a computer program product includes acomputer-readable medium storing a program code to be executed on acomputer. The program code causes the computer to, in response to afirst touch on a touch screen of the computer, invoke a first command.The program code also causes the computer to, in response to a secondtouch on the touch screen, invoke a second command. The first touch andthe second touch are different at least in pressure applied to the touchscreen.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the invention will be readily understood, a moreparticular description of the invention briefly described above will berendered by reference to specific embodiments that are illustrated inthe appended drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict onlyillustrative embodiments of the invention and are not therefore to beconsidered to be limiting of its scope, illustrative embodiments of theinvention will be described and explained with additional specificityand detail through the use of the accompanying drawings. In thedrawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a computer device allowing the user to utilizedifferent forces in place of the conventional pointing device inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a method for operating the computerdevice of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a computer device for multimedia file browsingapplication in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;and

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method for operating the computerdevice of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” or similar language signifies that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentis included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases“in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” and similar language throughoutthis specification may, but do not necessarily, refer to the sameembodiment.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present inventionmay be embodied as a server, a computer apparatus, a method or acomputer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may takethe form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely softwareembodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) oran embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computerprogram product embodied in any tangible medium of expression havingcomputer-usable program code embodied in the medium.

Any combination of one or more computer usable or computer readablemedium(s) may be utilized. The computer-usable or computer-readablemedium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus,device, or propagation medium. More specific examples (a non-exhaustivelist) of the computer-readable medium would include the following: anelectrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computerdiskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory(ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory(CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a transmission media such as thosesupporting the Internet or an intranet, or a magnetic storage device.Note that the computer-usable or computer-readable medium could even bepaper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, asthe program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, opticalscanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, orotherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then storedin a computer memory. In the context of this document, a computer-usableor computer-readable medium may be any medium that can contain, store,communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.The computer-usable medium may include a propagated data signal with thecomputer-usable program code embodied therewith, either in baseband oras part of a carrier wave. The computer usable program code may betransmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited towireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the presentinvention may be written in any combination of one or more programminglanguages, including an object oriented programming language such asJava, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programminglanguages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programminglanguages.

The present invention is described below with reference to flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) andcomputer program products according to embodiments of the invention. Itwill be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/orblock diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computerprogram instructions. These computer program instructions may beprovided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purposecomputer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce amachine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor ofthe computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, createmeans for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchartand/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable medium that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/actsspecified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

Referring now to FIG. 1 through FIG. 4, a system, devices, methods, andcomputer program products are illustrated as structural or functionalblock diagrams or process flowcharts according to various embodiments ofthe present invention. The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figuresillustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possibleimplementations of systems, methods and computer program productsaccording to various embodiments of the present invention. In thisregard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent amodule, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or moreexecutable instructions for implementing the specified logicalfunction(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware andcomputer instructions.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an illustrative embodiment of acomputer device 10 that allows users to utilize different forces inplace of the conventional pointing device. Particularly, the computerdevice 10 may have a touch screen 102, a processor 104, a pointingdevice 106 such as a mouse or track ball, and an operating system 108.

The basic configuration of the computer device 10 can refer to thecomputer product of ASUS™ T91 Table or Acer™ 420P-232G32n, or othercomputer product, wherein an example of the operating system 108 thereofcan be Microsoft™ Window 7™.

Specifically, the touch screen 102 of the illustrative embodiment may bea resistive type touch screen that can sense the touch pressure appliedby the user. With regard to the details of touch-sensing of theresistive type touch screen, those skilled in the art can refer to thearticle titled “Pressure-based text entry for mobile devices” by StephenA. Brewster and Michael Hughes, which is incorporated herein byreference with its entirety.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of an illustrative method for operatingthe computer device 10 in one embodiment.

Step 200: the operating system 108 may pre-define a first pointingdevice command and a second pointing device command, wherein the firstpointing device and the second pointing device command may be irrelevantto directional pointing control. Various applications executed on theoperating system 108 can run different processes in response to thefirst pointing device command and the second pointing device command,respectively. For example, in a file management application, the firstpointing device command executed with respect to a file may be to openthe file, while the second pointing device command executed with respectto the file may be to call the function menu for the file.

Step 202: the user may operate the pointing device 106 to generate afirst pointing device signal, and in response to the first pointingdevice signal, the processor 104 may invoke the pre-defined firstpointing device command. For example, the user may double-click the leftmouse button on the icon of a file (i.e. a graphic object) to generate amouse double-click signal. The processor 104 may then invoke thepre-defined first pointing device command (i.e. the double-clickcommand) to open the file.

Step 204: the user may operate the pointing device 106 to generate asecond pointing device signal, and in response to the second pointingdevice signal, the processor 104 may invoke the pre-defined secondpointing device command. For example, the user may double-click theright mouse button on the icon of a file to generate a right buttonsignal. The processor 104 may then invoke the pre-defined secondpointing device command (i.e. the right button command) to call thefunction menu for the file.

In addition to operations of the pointing device 106, the user canutilize the resistive type touch screen to perform operations.

Step 206: in response to a first touch, the touch screen 102 maygenerate a first touch signal, and in response to the first touchsignal, the processor 104 may invoke the first pointing command. Forexample, the user may touch the icon of the file by a relatively smallerforce to generate a first touch signal. The processor 104 may theninvoke the pre-defined first pointing device command (i.e. thedouble-click command in Step 202) to open the file.

Step 208: in response to a second touch different from the first touch,the touch screen 102 may generate a second touch signal, and in responseto the second touch signal, the processor 104 may invoke the secondpointing device command. For example, the user may touch the icon of thefile by a relatively larger force to generate a second touch signal. Theprocessor 104 may then invoke the pre-defined second pointing devicecommand (i.e. the right button command in Step 204) to call the functionmenu for the file. It is noted that any pressure applied by the user maybe applicable to the present invention provided that the pressures givenby the user in step 206 and step 208 can be distinguished by the touchscreen 102. The value of pressure applied by the user is not limited inthe described embodiments.

The present invention can also have other modifications. For example,during steps 202-208, the location of the file icon can be constant orvariable and not limited in the described embodiments.

Furthermore, the first pointing device command and the second pointingdevice command are not necessarily associated with a specific graphicobject. For example, in one application, processes irrelevant to thegraphic object can be set in response to the first pointing devicecommand and the second pointing device command, respectively. Forexample, when the user double-clicks on any location of the operatingarea or lightly touches the touch screen, the application may run asbackground. When the user hits the mouse right button on any location ofthe operating area or relatively heavily touches the touch screen, theapplication may be ended.

FIG. 3 illustrates a computer device 30 for multimedia file browsingapplication in one illustrative embodiment. Particularly, the computerdevice 30 may have a touch screen 302, a processor 304, and a multimediafile browsing application 306. The basic configuration of the computer30 may refer to Apple™ iPhone™ or Nokia™ N800 Internet Tablet, or othercomputer device, wherein an example of the operating system used in thecomputer device 30 can be Apple iOS, or Nokia Maemo, or Google Androidand not limited to the described embodiments.

It is noted that the touch screen 302 is not limited to resistive typeand can be inductive type, surface acoustic type, or optical type.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an illustrative method for operatingthe computer device 30 in one embodiment.

Step 400, the multimedia file browsing application 306 may be executed.The multimedia file browsing application 306 may provide the user with afirst browsing mode and a second browsing mode. In the context of thepresent invention, different browsing modes may mean that the user canbrowse the content of the multimedia file by different ways, and underdifferent browsing modes, same or different commands can be used forbrowsing the multimedia file. For example, the application 306 can be areading program of an electronic book and can provide the user withvertical read mode and horizontal read mode, or page locking mode andpage drag-able mode, or read-only mode and highlight and notation mode,or full page mode and column mode.

The application 306 also can be a photo-browsing mode to provide fullscreen mode or partial view mode.

The application 306 also can be a video-playing mode to provide Chinesesubtitle mode or English subtitle mode or no subtitle mode.

The application 306 also can be an audio-playing program to providenormal mode or fast forward mode.

The electronic book read program together with vertical read mode andhorizontal read mode thereof will be described below as an illustrativeembodiment of the present invention.

Step 402: in the vertical read mode of the electronic book read program306, the user can perform a first touch on the book page presented onthe touch screen 302, and the touch screen 302 may correspondinglygenerate a first touch signal. In response to the first touch signal,the processor 304 may invoke a browsing command in the vertical readmode, such as jump to next page.

Step 404: in the vertical read mode of the electronic book read program306, the user can perform a second touch different from the first touchof step 402 on the book page presented on the touch screen 302, and thetouch screen 302 may correspondingly generate a second touch signal. Inresponse to the second touch signal, the processor 304 may invoke aswitching command to switch the vertical read mode to the horizontalread mode. In an illustrative embodiment, the touch in step 404 may notbe limited to a specific touch position on the book page. Step 404 mayperform the switching by a single touch without calling the menu forselection, thus increasing the convenience of use. Similarly, the usercan perform the second touch once again to invoke the switching commandto switch the horizontal read mode to the vertical read mode.

Step 406: in the horizontal read mode, the user can perform the firsttouch described above on the book page presented on the touch screen 302to generate the first touch signal. In response to the first touchsignal, the processor 304 may invoke the browsing command in thehorizontal read mode, such as jump to next page. It is noted that theuser also can perform a third touch that is different from the secondtouch in step 404 on the book page presented on the touch screen 302,and the touch screen 302 may correspondingly generate a third touchsignal. In response to the third touch signal, the processor 304 mayinvoke a browsing command in the horizontal read mode, such as jump tothe previous page. The browsing command in the horizontal read mode instep 406 is not necessarily the same as the browsing command in thevertical read mode in step 402.

It is worth to note that the difference between the touch in step 404and the touch in step 402 (or the touch in step 406) may be the pressureapplied by the user or the touch duration. Alternatively, the differencebetween the touch in step 404 and the touch in step 402 may be thepressure applied by the user, while the difference between the touch instep 404 and the touch in step 406 may be the touch duration. Moreover,the touch in step 406 and the touch in step 402 can be the same ordifferent, but not limited to the described embodiments.

It is noted that the present invention can have other modifications. Forexample, the touch position in step 404 and the touch position in step402 or 406 can be the same or different, and the touch position in step402 and the touch position in the step 406 can be the same or different.

Reference throughout this specification to features, advantages, orsimilar language does not imply that all of the features and advantagesthat may be realized with the present invention should be or are in anysingle embodiment of the invention. Rather, language referring to thefeatures and advantages is understood to mean that a specific feature,advantage, or characteristic described in connection with an embodimentmay be included in an embodiment of the present invention. Thus,discussion of the features and advantages, and similar language,throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, refer to thesame embodiment, and need not necessarily be included in any embodimentconsistent with the present invention.

Furthermore, the described features, advantages, and characteristics ofthe invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or moreembodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize that theinvention may be practiced without one or more of the specific featuresor advantages of a particular embodiment. In other instances, additionalfeatures and advantages may be recognized in certain embodiments thatmay not be present in all embodiments of the invention.

The foregoing illustrative embodiments are provided to illustrate anddisclose the technical features of the present invention, and are notintended to be restrictive of the scope of the present invention. Hence,all equivalent variations or modifications made to the foregoingembodiments without departing from the spirit embodied in the disclosureof the present invention should fall within the scope of the presentinvention as set forth in the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A computer device, comprising: a pointingdevice configured to, in response to different operations by a user,generate a first pointing device signal, a second pointing devicesignal, and a third pointing device signal; a touch screen configuredto, in response to a first human touch, generate a first touch signal,in response to a second human touch, generate a second touch signal, andin response to a third human touch, generate a third touch signal,wherein the first human touch, the second human touch, and the thirdhuman touch are different at least in pressure and duration of timeapplied by a user; an operating system configured to pre-define a firstcommand, a second command, and a third command, in response to thedifferent operations by the user of the pointing device that generatesthe first pointing device signal, the second pointing device signal, anda the third pointing device signal, wherein the first command includes afirst pointing device command, the second command includes a secondpointing device command, and the third command includes a third pointingdevice command; a processor configured to invoke the first pointingdevice command in response to the first touch signal land the firstpointing device signal, the processor further configured to invoke thesecond pointing device command in response to the second touch signaland the second pointing device signal, the processor further configuredto invoke the third pointing device command in response to the thirdtouch signal and the third pointing device signal and wherein the firstpointing device command is a browsing command in a first browsing mode,the second pointing device command is a switching command to switch thefirst browsing mode to a second browsing mode, and the third command isa browsing command in the second browsing mode, wherein the thirdcommand is different from the first command, wherein the first browsingmode is a vertical read mode, and the second browsing mode is ahorizontal read mode, and the third command is a command to jump to aparticular page.
 2. The computer device of claim 1, wherein theprocessor is further configured to execute an application, theapplication runs a first process in response to the first pointingdevice command and runs a second process in response to the secondpointing device command.
 3. The computer device of claim 2, wherein thefirst human touch and the second human touch both target differentpositions on the touch screen.
 4. The computer device of claim 2,wherein the application presents a graphic object on the touch screen,and the first human touch and the second human touch both target to thegraphic object.
 5. The computer device of claim 1, further comprising: amultimedia file browsing application, providing the first browsing modeand the second browsing mode; wherein the touch screen is configured togenerate the first touch signal in response to the first human touch ona multimedia file presented on the touch screen by the multimedia filebrowsing application, and generate the second touch signal in responseto the second human touch on the multimedia file.
 6. The computer deviceof claim 5, wherein the touch screen is resistive type or inductivetype.
 7. The computer device of claim 5, wherein the first browsing modeand the second browsing mode are a page locking mode and a page dragablemode.
 8. The computer device of claim 5, wherein the first browsing modeand the second browsing mode are a read-only mode and a highlight andnotation mode.
 9. The computer device of claim 5, wherein the firstbrowsing mode and the second browsing mode are a full page mode and acolumn mode.
 10. A computer program product comprising a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing a program code to be executed on acomputer for causing the computer to perform operations including:receiving different pointing device operations by a user; generating, inresponse to the different pointing device operations by the user, afirst pointing device signal, a second pointing device signal, and athird pointing device signal; predefining a first command in response tothe different pointing device operations by the user of the pointingdevice that generates the first pointing device signal, the secondpointing device signal and the third pointing device signal, wherein thefirst command includes a first pointing device command, and the secondcommand includes a second pointing device command, and the third commandincludes a third pointing device command; in response to a first humantouch on a touch screen of the computer and the first pointing devicesignal, invoking the first pointing device command; in response to asecond human touch on the touch screen and the second pointing devicesignal, invoking the second pointing device command; in response to athird human touch on the touch screen and the third pointing devicesignal, invoking a third command; wherein the first human touch, thesecond human touch and the third human touch are different at least inpressure and duration of time applied by the user, and wherein the firstpointing device command is a browsing command in a first browsing mode,the second pointing device command is a switching command to switch thefirst browsing mode to a second browsing mode, and the third command isa browsing command in the second browsing mode, wherein the thirdcommand is different from the first command, wherein the first browsingmode is a vertical read mode, and the second browsing mode is ahorizontal read mode, and the third command is a command to jump to aparticular page.
 11. The computer program product of claim 10, furthercomprising program code for: executing an application; in response tothe first pointing device command, the application running a firstprocess; and in response to the second pointing device command, theapplication running a second process.
 12. The computer program productof claim 10, further comprising computer code for: executing amultimedia file browsing application to present a multimedia file on thetouch screen and provide the first browsing mode and the second browsingmode; in the first browsing mode, in response to the first human touchon the multimedia file, invoking the first command; in response to thesecond human touch on the multimedia file, invoking the second command.13. A computer device, comprising: a pointing device configured to, inresponse to different operations by a user, generate a first pointingdevice signal, a second pointing device signal, and a third pointingdevice signal; a touch screen configured to, in response to a firsthuman touch in a first position, generate a first touch signal, inresponse to a second human touch in a second position, generate a secondtouch signal, and in response to a third human touch in a thirdposition, generate a third touch signal, wherein the first position, thesecond position, and the third position are different locations on thetouch screen, wherein the first human touch, the second human touch andthe third human touch are different in at least pressure and duration oftime applied by the user; an operating system configured to pre-define afirst command, a second command, and a third command, in response to thedifferent operations by the user of the pointing device that generatesthe first pointing device signal and the second pointing device signaland a third command, wherein the first command includes a first pointingdevice command, and the second command includes a second pointing devicecommand and the third command includes a third pointing device command;and a processor configured to invoke the first pointing device commandin response to the first touch signal and the first pointing devicesignal, the processor further configured to invoke the second pointingdevice command in response to the second touch signal and the secondpointing device signal, the processor further configured to invoke thethird pointing device command in response to the third touch signal andthe third pointing device signal invoke the third command, wherein thefirst pointing device command is a browsing command in a first browsingmode, and the second pointing device command is a switching command toswitch the first browsing mode to a second browsing mode, and the thirdcommand is a browsing command in the second browsing mode, wherein thethird command is different from the first command, wherein the firstbrowsing mode is a vertical read mode, and the second browsing mode is ahorizontal read mode, and the third command is a command to jump to aparticular page.